Wisdom of the Sages
Episode II
Winter - February 2009
Hello People of the World!
Hey, Saint Valentine’s Day has passed and I hope that special someone had the courage to speak up. Or if you do not believe in dedicating one day out of the year to love, be comforted in that for me as well, the day was just another Saturday. I know that by now you have gotten "The Note" from me and are planning to catch up as well in some way. Again, The Note confirms my Two Reader audience remains intact. Yes! My thanks to the both of you. Nothing has changed much in the time I sent that out. But the world still goes on. Let’s take a look at it, shall we?
:[ So now we have a new President and all those talking heads espousing "Support the President no matter what," "Criticizing our duly elected President is un-American" are now hoping the President fails. So much for American fortitude...
:[ The flip side of the Burris Affair: I guess Voters wanted to choose whom should fill the seat and were left out of the process all together. Typical Illinois Politics again. I cannot bring myself to care about Blago but the whole process of his ouster made me feel that it all could have been handled a lot better. But hey, that’s Typical Illinois Politics.
:[ Turns out that Yo Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman played their instruments to pre-recorded inaugural music! You know what this means, right? That OBAMA IS TOTALLY UNFIT TO LEAD THE COUNTRY!! (HECK, HE MAY NOT EVEN BE PRESIDENT!)
:[ Please, excuse the crudity of this item. It was kind of funny so I had to say something about it. We all get spam in our e-mail. A lot of it is pretty harmless. Others, you kind of need to watch for viruses and be wary of what you click on. But, I got one spam with this in the subject heading (And I’m not kidding.): "Put fire in her crotch".
You know, that does not sound like a good thing at all.
:[ Whew, Natives missed that bullet; Vanessa Hudgens was rumored to play the female Native American lead in the Twilight sequel. But, the producers and writers nixed that. Dang, she talented, super hot, and could raise awareness about Natives. It’s almost like having Johnny Depp play Tonto. Right?
:[ With all the trouble going on in the world from our terrible economy and housing crisis, to the war in Gaza and its unfair coverage by the media, the one thing that was the most blogged about: The new NY Mets Uniform Patch. So much for American fortitude.
:[ I guess I should write something about the swim-suited audition on American Idol. Was she so untrusting in her talent that she had to wear a bikini to an audition? I mean, if you think about it, we men have it made. Women are pole-dancing because it’s "empowering", we got women stripping down to nothing to be famous.
Sad to know that she felt the only way to get on TV was to be in a bikini. And it worked! Man, she shorted her own singing talent for fleeting TV exposure because of her stunt. Don’t even tell me she was doing that to promote a swim wear company. Bikinis will always sell because of men’s wanton need to see women in them. Imagine her trying to sell something that did not involve sexual objectification. If she were trying to promote her brother’s insurance outlet, you know what she’d do? She’d wear a bikini! What a wacky world we live in. Speaking of:
:[ Let’s face it folks, we live in mediocre times. We tend to confuse being successful with being popular or Celebrity. Pulling Yourself Up By Your Bootstraps has been replaced with the 15 Minutes of Fame. Have you noticed? We have scores of celebrity that rarely work to put out quality work. Those stupid satire movies, insipid teen vampire flicks, endless remakes. They are just draining our pockets really. Not even sports is immune. It’s all about the Sports Star making the most money rather than the skill of the game.
It’s gotten so bad that we would rather play sports than work for a living. We would juice up on steroids to remain competitive because we don’t want to give up the salary and fame of knocking a ball around a field. We always try to outdo one another with the most inane thing to be famous. Like American Idol or Novelty Song of the Moment.
I mean, Katy Perry simply got popular for singing about kissing a girl. That’s it. I finally heard that song today and with all the hype I thought the song would be, you know, good. Remember the singers of the past? Dressing for their audiences, putting out entire albums that were good. Working, working, working for their audience.
Now, whomever has the biggest salary, the worst marriage, the worst break down, the catchiest single tune, or most-viewed video on YouTube is suddenly the celebrity of the century. Nobody works hard for fame and fortune anymore. We praise and raise up mediocrity.
:[ Speaking of, "Confessions of a Shopaholic", "He’s Just Not That Into You" and "Bride Wars" all paint a really stupid picture of smart women playing dumb to get men’s attention. I saw these three trailers at a "Marley and Me". It was stupid. These were the trailers being shown to little kids and their families. We men got made.
:[ Sho Con Update/Three Kingdoms/Red Cliff Update: Nothing new to report I am sorry to say. Sho Con has stalled, my reading and adaptation of Three Kingdoms is on hold, while I am working the new job and, and, AND producing a feature-length horror movie with my buddy Mike. Have no fear, I still want to produce both "The Shoshoni Connection" and my adaptation of "Three Kingdoms". But I have this new, out-of-nowhere project I want to try out first.
As for the movie "Red Cliff", I am making a few converts with the import DVD and on January 29th, the second part "Red Cliff 2" (natch) was released in Asian markets. Now, the DVD to that should come in March, but an edited, U.S. version combining both films hopefully comes out in the fall. Come on U.S. Distributors, snap this baby up!
:[ So I see Oprah and some Well-meaning Rich Dude talking about eating better to people who use food stamps. Well, I would reallly like to see Oprah and this Well-Meaning Rich Dude live on food stamps for years then come preach to us about healthy lifestyles.
:[ About the whole "Joaquin Phoenix Becoming a Rapper" Thing. People will always project what they want on the successful and famous. Joaquin Phoenix’s stunt will either irritate those who already hate him and want him to fail, or be looked on as a hoax by those who don’t want him to be the goofy, bearded shut in he apparently has become. He has a lot of baggage either way you look at it. I am in the camp that it is a project of some kind. Any musician usually sequesters themselves to write and record music, which obviously Phoenix is not doing.
Besides, Joaquin Phoenix says his giving up making movies to be a rapper is not a hoax, and to prove it, Casey Affleck and himself are making a frickin’ movie about it! It’s a hoax (or another film project). Come on! Meh, if I'm wrong, I'm not gonna cry about it.
:[ Speaking of the irrelevant people projecting success or failure on the still-relevant people. Everybody just needs to get off Christian Bale’s back already. (You too, Isabel. I mean it. Get off- let go, let Go!) Geesh.
Well, that will do it for this month. I hope you are doing well. I am, considering. But this new project is very uplifting in spirits. Please feel free to comment, write back, attack, ask for clarification, tell me I don’t make sense, to speak louder, or to simply disagree. As long as you are active about your passions and ideals they will never become obsolete. Or something like that. (Wow, where'd that come from?)
Laters, Gator.
Until Next Time; "It’s not about money. It’s about sending a message."
Episode II
Winter - February 2009
Hello People of the World!
Hey, Saint Valentine’s Day has passed and I hope that special someone had the courage to speak up. Or if you do not believe in dedicating one day out of the year to love, be comforted in that for me as well, the day was just another Saturday. I know that by now you have gotten "The Note" from me and are planning to catch up as well in some way. Again, The Note confirms my Two Reader audience remains intact. Yes! My thanks to the both of you. Nothing has changed much in the time I sent that out. But the world still goes on. Let’s take a look at it, shall we?
:[ So now we have a new President and all those talking heads espousing "Support the President no matter what," "Criticizing our duly elected President is un-American" are now hoping the President fails. So much for American fortitude...
:[ The flip side of the Burris Affair: I guess Voters wanted to choose whom should fill the seat and were left out of the process all together. Typical Illinois Politics again. I cannot bring myself to care about Blago but the whole process of his ouster made me feel that it all could have been handled a lot better. But hey, that’s Typical Illinois Politics.
:[ Turns out that Yo Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman played their instruments to pre-recorded inaugural music! You know what this means, right? That OBAMA IS TOTALLY UNFIT TO LEAD THE COUNTRY!! (HECK, HE MAY NOT EVEN BE PRESIDENT!)
:[ Please, excuse the crudity of this item. It was kind of funny so I had to say something about it. We all get spam in our e-mail. A lot of it is pretty harmless. Others, you kind of need to watch for viruses and be wary of what you click on. But, I got one spam with this in the subject heading (And I’m not kidding.): "Put fire in her crotch".
You know, that does not sound like a good thing at all.
:[ Whew, Natives missed that bullet; Vanessa Hudgens was rumored to play the female Native American lead in the Twilight sequel. But, the producers and writers nixed that. Dang, she talented, super hot, and could raise awareness about Natives. It’s almost like having Johnny Depp play Tonto. Right?
:[ With all the trouble going on in the world from our terrible economy and housing crisis, to the war in Gaza and its unfair coverage by the media, the one thing that was the most blogged about: The new NY Mets Uniform Patch. So much for American fortitude.
:[ I guess I should write something about the swim-suited audition on American Idol. Was she so untrusting in her talent that she had to wear a bikini to an audition? I mean, if you think about it, we men have it made. Women are pole-dancing because it’s "empowering", we got women stripping down to nothing to be famous.
Sad to know that she felt the only way to get on TV was to be in a bikini. And it worked! Man, she shorted her own singing talent for fleeting TV exposure because of her stunt. Don’t even tell me she was doing that to promote a swim wear company. Bikinis will always sell because of men’s wanton need to see women in them. Imagine her trying to sell something that did not involve sexual objectification. If she were trying to promote her brother’s insurance outlet, you know what she’d do? She’d wear a bikini! What a wacky world we live in. Speaking of:
:[ Let’s face it folks, we live in mediocre times. We tend to confuse being successful with being popular or Celebrity. Pulling Yourself Up By Your Bootstraps has been replaced with the 15 Minutes of Fame. Have you noticed? We have scores of celebrity that rarely work to put out quality work. Those stupid satire movies, insipid teen vampire flicks, endless remakes. They are just draining our pockets really. Not even sports is immune. It’s all about the Sports Star making the most money rather than the skill of the game.
It’s gotten so bad that we would rather play sports than work for a living. We would juice up on steroids to remain competitive because we don’t want to give up the salary and fame of knocking a ball around a field. We always try to outdo one another with the most inane thing to be famous. Like American Idol or Novelty Song of the Moment.
I mean, Katy Perry simply got popular for singing about kissing a girl. That’s it. I finally heard that song today and with all the hype I thought the song would be, you know, good. Remember the singers of the past? Dressing for their audiences, putting out entire albums that were good. Working, working, working for their audience.
Now, whomever has the biggest salary, the worst marriage, the worst break down, the catchiest single tune, or most-viewed video on YouTube is suddenly the celebrity of the century. Nobody works hard for fame and fortune anymore. We praise and raise up mediocrity.
:[ Speaking of, "Confessions of a Shopaholic", "He’s Just Not That Into You" and "Bride Wars" all paint a really stupid picture of smart women playing dumb to get men’s attention. I saw these three trailers at a "Marley and Me". It was stupid. These were the trailers being shown to little kids and their families. We men got made.
:[ Sho Con Update/Three Kingdoms/Red Cliff Update: Nothing new to report I am sorry to say. Sho Con has stalled, my reading and adaptation of Three Kingdoms is on hold, while I am working the new job and, and, AND producing a feature-length horror movie with my buddy Mike. Have no fear, I still want to produce both "The Shoshoni Connection" and my adaptation of "Three Kingdoms". But I have this new, out-of-nowhere project I want to try out first.
As for the movie "Red Cliff", I am making a few converts with the import DVD and on January 29th, the second part "Red Cliff 2" (natch) was released in Asian markets. Now, the DVD to that should come in March, but an edited, U.S. version combining both films hopefully comes out in the fall. Come on U.S. Distributors, snap this baby up!
:[ So I see Oprah and some Well-meaning Rich Dude talking about eating better to people who use food stamps. Well, I would reallly like to see Oprah and this Well-Meaning Rich Dude live on food stamps for years then come preach to us about healthy lifestyles.
:[ About the whole "Joaquin Phoenix Becoming a Rapper" Thing. People will always project what they want on the successful and famous. Joaquin Phoenix’s stunt will either irritate those who already hate him and want him to fail, or be looked on as a hoax by those who don’t want him to be the goofy, bearded shut in he apparently has become. He has a lot of baggage either way you look at it. I am in the camp that it is a project of some kind. Any musician usually sequesters themselves to write and record music, which obviously Phoenix is not doing.
Besides, Joaquin Phoenix says his giving up making movies to be a rapper is not a hoax, and to prove it, Casey Affleck and himself are making a frickin’ movie about it! It’s a hoax (or another film project). Come on! Meh, if I'm wrong, I'm not gonna cry about it.
:[ Speaking of the irrelevant people projecting success or failure on the still-relevant people. Everybody just needs to get off Christian Bale’s back already. (You too, Isabel. I mean it. Get off- let go, let Go!) Geesh.
Well, that will do it for this month. I hope you are doing well. I am, considering. But this new project is very uplifting in spirits. Please feel free to comment, write back, attack, ask for clarification, tell me I don’t make sense, to speak louder, or to simply disagree. As long as you are active about your passions and ideals they will never become obsolete. Or something like that. (Wow, where'd that come from?)
Laters, Gator.
Until Next Time; "It’s not about money. It’s about sending a message."
